Email this article to a friend

HgCapital, a mid-market private equity manager, has bought the Netherlands-based digital cordless business of the National Semiconductor Corporation, a chip designer and manufacturer.

A source close to the deal said HgCapital had paid about $100m (€79m) for the unit, which will be called SiTel Semiconductor. Alex Shivananda, the director at HgCapital responsible for the deal, declined to comment on the price paid.

Shivananda said: "The complexity of the deal was in carving SiTel out of its parent and transforming it from an integrated business into a fabless one, where chip production is outsourced to a manufacturing facility."

The deal is structured with a low ratio of debt to equity, Shivananda said. ABN Amro supplied bank debt.

He said SiTel had a strong customer base and that growth would come from expanding the range of products and broadening the international profile of its clients. It already sells to the leading manufacturers of cordless telephones.

The acquisition is HgCapital's third in the Netherlands in three years.